The Notch
by CarnelianFox
Summary: Ever notice that Alvin has a notch in his left ear? Ever wonder how it got there? Brittany sure has. After time and time again, she finally gets the story out of him, and it's more heartfelt and gruesome than she imagined. Rated T for some blood and violence. CGI-movie Chipmunks and Chipettes are used in this and all of my AATC stories.


**I do not own Alvin and the Chipmunks. Wow, I haven't typed that in YEARS! So I had this idea years ago, but never got to it. Eventually, it stayed dormant in my subconscious until my girlfriend and I were experimenting with Chipmunk ideas for our own amusement and I remembered it about a week ago. Then, last night, the Squeakquel was on Free On Demand under 'Movies on CN' in Cartoon Network's section and I happened to be flipping through. It's like fate gave me an extra motivator. Now I'm back in familiar territory and hopefully a better writer than I was three years ago.**

 **This was an idea I finally get to put into full swing. Please enjoy this one-shot.**

Every time Brittany asked that red clad chipmunk a certain question, he'd dodge the question and act uncharacteristically sullen. Ever since she met him, it stuck out in her mind. It was subtle, but definitely apparent. It was unnatural, but it was there. The history of it hung in the Chipmunks' eyes.

The notch.

The notch in Alvin's ear piqued Brittany's curiosity the moment she got herself to stop gushing over his presence and give him a good look. She thought that he was even more handsome in person. Her dream man—munk—and her idol, gazing into her eyes. She looked back at that instant fondly. It was too bad that that was when she and her sisters were being manipulated by Ian. She should have figured it out the moment when Ian started being rude to Eleanor, telling her to lay off the nuts when she couldn't fit in the mail slot.

That was beside the point. That was in the past. That notch in Alvin's left ear was history in the present. It looked like it had been there for a while. Despite her best efforts, Brittany couldn't get Alvin to talk about it. It clearly bothered him. She was flipping through a magazine on the couch in the Seville home, pretending to be occupied by it. The more she tried to let sleeping dogs lie, the more she wanted to wake this issue up. Alvin wasn't one to hold things in, so why the history of the notch?

"Hey, Brittany?" Theodore's voice spoke up. She looked over the edge of the couch and saw Theodore, Alvin, Simon, and her sisters, Jeanette and Eleanor, staring up at her with longing eyes. Theodore spoke again. "Do you want to watch _Mere Cat Manor_ with us?"

"Is it seven already?" Brittany asked and looked at the cable box. It was seven o'clock. "Sure." This was going to shape up to be one of the Chipmunks' and Chipettes' famous 'Triple Dates at Home' ordeals. Of course, it wasn't like she minded that. Whenever they would all watch TV together, they were arranged the exact same comfortable way: Eleanor and Theodore would hug each other like teddy bears, Alvin would have an arm around Brittany while Brittany would hold her head on Alvin's shoulder, and Simon and Jeanette would hold paws and snuggle together, rubbing noses half the time. Tonight was no different.

"I like how the mere cats behave like a family," Theodore said softly.

"Me, too," Eleanor agreed.

Simon and Jeanette were oblivious to this, rubbing noses yet again. They were as in love as could be. It was nothing out of the ordinary at this point, and it was progress over how they used to be around each other; awkwardly happy with a touch of shy interaction and distant admiration. They told each other everything—everything except for how Alvin got the notch in his ear.

Jeanette had asked Simon about it once per Brittany's request, but Simon had answered that it was Alvin's story to tell. That was both a better and a worse answer than the one Eleanor got from Theodore, who would tear up and say he didn't want to talk about it. Theodore's answer was better than Simon's in the sense that it provided some emotional context, but worse in the case that Theodore did not handle family trauma well and that Eleanor (and Brittany by extension) had inadvertently driven Theodore to tears.

Brittany glanced into Alvin's amber eyes, which watched the TV intently. He seemed happy. When things went wrong, he always managed to find the silver lining or make one of his own. It was one of the things that Brittany admired most about the red clad bandleader. It didn't really matter what the situation was. She wondered how he did it with the notch. She was becoming dangerously obsessed with it. Was it for fear that Alvin had suffered? Could it have been for fear that he was still suffering inside? Was her curiosity taking over her every action?

 _Mere Cat Manor_ ended before Brittany knew it. She had been so lost in her thoughts that everything had passed her by. Simon pulled his nose away from Jeanette's to say, "That was a good show."

"How would you know? You and Jeanette were doing that butterfly kiss thing the entire time," Alvin asked teasingly. His smile was gentle, yet confident.

"I need to go put my pajamas on," Eleanor, the first to leave the living room, announced.

"I'm getting kind of hungry," Theodore declared as he scampered into the kitchen.

Jeanette yawned and said, "What a day! I think I'm going to hit the hay." With that announcement, she disappeared. Simon went to the Chipmunks' room (they were separated once Theodore and Eleanor finally started dating) without stating his intentions.

Then, only Alvin and Brittany remained. Brittany went for a bold move. She was positioned on Alvin's left side. She craned her neck and kissed his left ear. His notched ear. Alvin tensed up. His amber brown eyes met his ice blue eyes. She smiled sheepishly, hoping to convey her good intentions through it. Alvin opened his mouth slightly. No words came from the ajar mouth for the first few moments. He finally willed himself to ask, "Why did you do that? You know that's my—"

"Alvin, I need to know what happened! I'm trying to be a good girlfriend and make you happy, but there's something you're holding back from me! Whatever it is, it's nothing to be ashamed of!" Brittany cut him off, not wanting to be in the dark any longer. She had to know what happened and how he felt about it deep down inside.

"…You wore me down, Britt. I'll tell you. We don't talk about it much for Theo's sake, but…it all started when Simon, Theo and I were still on our own in the woods," Alvin began.

 _Flashback…_

 _Simon was humming to himself as he reorganized the nuts in their tree for the third time that day. His humming was anxious. It was Theodore's turn to gather while Alvin and Simon held down the fort—err, tree. Simon broke his humming and exclaimed to Alvin, "I'm worried about Theodore!"_

 _Alvin, who was trying to lounge on a tree branch, agreed, "Yeah, me, too." He couldn't relax. "You don't think he's lost, do you?"_

" _I hope not," Simon mumbled. "Why did Mom and Dad have to leave early? There's still so much we've struggled to learn on our own!"_

" _I didn't think you and struggling to learn went together. Calm your tail; I'll look for him," Alvin announced to his taller brother. He scampered down the tree and went in the direction he saw Theodore leave in. Deep into the maze of trees, trees, and more trees, he started calling his younger brother's name, "Theo! Theodore! C'mon, Theo, it's okay if you didn't find all that much!"_

 _There was silence at first. Alvin's ears drooped with worry and he advanced deeper into the forest. Alvin was getting sick of looking at the endless array of trees. The only forest green he wanted to see was that of Theodore's eyes with his whole being safe and sound._

" _HEEEELP!" a loud, shrill scream came from the distance. "ALVIN, SIMON, ANYONE, PLEASE HELP MEEEE!"_

" _THEODORE!" Alvin cried out as loud as he could and followed Theodore's pleas for help. "Theo, where are you?! THEODORE!" Alvin cursed under his breath. Panic coursed through his mind. He needed to find Theodore as soon as possible._

" _ALVIN!" Theodore's cry returned to brown eyed chipmunk's ears. It was louder now. Alvin was getting closer. He moved toward the cry and Theodore soon came into view. Alvin got into a full-on sprint as he approached Theodore. He tackled the shorter chipmunk with a tight, loving hug._

" _Oh, Theo, we were so worried!" Alvin exclaimed in relief. His eyes eased shut in content as he hugged his younger, shorter brother._

" _Alvin, it's coming back!" Theodore cried out, trembling violently._

" _What's coming back?" Alvin asked as he opened his eyes again. The sound of ominous flapping assaulted his sense of hearing and he looked up. An eagle had set its sights on them. With its talons outstretched, it descended upon them. Alvin reacted quickly. Holding Theodore tightly, he rolled out of the way and shoved his little brother away. Alvin ordered, "Get out of here!"_

" _But Alvin—" Theodore tried to protest. His light brown tail quivered in fear._

" _I said go—OWW!" Alvin hollered in pain. He felt something wet trickle into his ear. Blood. The eagle had latched onto the end of Alvin's ear with its beak and kept a tight hold on him. Some blood squirted onto Alvin and onto the eagle's beak. "Stupid bird…!"_

" _Alvin!" Theodore cried out._

" _Theodore, get out of here…!" Alvin grunted through the pain that welled up in the side of his head. Though it had no teeth, it felt like the eagle was biting down on his ear. "This sucks…! Let me go, you dumb bird! Theo, go!"_

" _I won't leave you!" Theodore cried out and charged at the bird. He bounced off its abdominal feathers. "He's my big brother! You can't have him!"_

" _Theo…" Alvin groaned. He felt himself bleeding more and more. He didn't know ears could bleed this much. Maybe the amount was being exaggerated in his mind, but the pain was nothing if not awful. It felt like his nerves were burning as the cartilage in Alvin's ear gave way to the mighty beak of the eagle. Alvin cursed under his breath and writhed. He tried to focus on protecting Theodore._

" _Hey, bird brain!" Simon's voice called out. The bird of prey let go of Alvin to direct its attention towards the tall, slim chipmunk. "Stay away from my brothers!" With all his might, he threw a rock at the eagle. The eagle shrieked disdainfully and spread its vast wings, as if to take an aerial charge at Simon._

" _Simon, duck!" Alvin cried out, holding his bleeding ear. The eagle swooped at Simon, who tumbled off to the side and threw an acorn. He missed the bird. The acorn fell short by a foot. "Are you having trouble seeing it or can you just not throw?"_

" _Now's not the time for that!" Simon exclaimed as he elegantly swirled around the eagle as it continued to try to get him._

 _Alvin knew Simon couldn't keep dodging forever. He let go of his damaged ear and picked up a big stick. Welling up as much of his anger and protective instincts as he could, he let out a battle cry. "RAAAAAAH!" The chipmunk charged at the eagle and started swinging the stick at it. "GO THE HECK AWAY! RAAAH!" The eagle took several hits before flying away in a mad panic._

" _Alvin, that was…incredible…" Simon gasped, trying to catch his breath. He found himself lunging forward to catch Alvin as he fell, exhausted and bleeding profusely from his left ear._

" _Alvin!" Theodore rushed over. He was crying. "I'm so sorry I put you into danger! It's all my fault!"_

" _You're alright, kiddo…" Alvin mumbled._

" _The important thing is making sure Alvin's alright," Simon informed Theodore as he looked around for something to stop the bleeding. He spotted a leaf that he knew wasn't poisonous. "There! Theo, can you break a piece of that off and bring it to me?"_

 _Theodore did as he was told, trembling all the while. He gave the torn leaf piece to Simon, who held it against Alvin's head. Theodore and Simon carried their brother back to the tree and huddled together in the knothole by nightfall._

" _Simon, will Alvin be alright?" Theodore sniffled as Alvin slept between them._

" _He just needs rest," Simon told his younger brother as he continued to hold the leaf piece to his older brother's head. "The bleeding probably stopped forever ago, but I'm worried…" Simon swallowed, hoping to swallow some of his doubt, and slowly pulled the leaf piece away from Alvin's ear. Amidst the dried blood was a notch carved into Alvin's ear. "I wonder if his hearing was damaged, too. Whatever the case, the bleeding's stopped, and I've done all I could for now… I think he'll be okay."_

 _End of flashback…_

"For the longest time, Theo blamed himself," Alvin informed Brittany as he concluded the story. "Simon patched me up and we went on with life as we normally would until our tree was cut down and we met Dave. Long story short, Theodore forgot all about his fear of birds of prey tearing our family apart until—and this is based off of what Theo told me—Toby said something about how our family would never be separated unless an eagle were to swoop down or something."

"Oh, my gosh…!" Brittany was at a loss. After that story, she would need several moments to regain the ability to think rationally. "Oh, Alvie!" Brittany wrapped her arms around Alvin. "I'm so sorry I pressured you so much into telling me!"

"You know what, Britt? I'm glad you did. I feel pretty good about it now," Alvin sighed contently and held Brittany close. He kissed her passionately. Brittany kissed back. Suddenly, Alvin pulled away and jerked his head towards a corner. "Alright, you two, you can come out now."

"What…?" Brittany questioned Alvin's sudden action when her sisters made themselves known from around the corner. "Jeanette? Eleanor?"

"We were eavesdropping," Eleanor admitted.

"Sorry," Jeanette sheepishly apologized. They had tears running down their cheeks.

"Nah, it's cool. I bet you girls were curious, too," Alvin chuckled. "I bet Theo heard the whole thing, too." Alvin directed his attention to the kitchen's direction and called out, "Hey, Theo, you know not even an eagle can tear the Seville brothers apart! That's…what we have each other for. Hmm… It's scary how not-wrong that is."

"But we always come back even stronger together!" Theodore cried out as he ran into the living room with a cheese ball in each cheek and hugged Alvin, inadvertently tearing him from Brittany.

"Yeah, we sure do!" Alvin chuckled as he gave his little brother a pat on the head. "Say, Jeanette, what is Simon up to?"

"He's allegedly watching some anime on Dave's iPad, but I bet he was listening to the story and remembering everything that happened as you said it," Jeanette informed the red clad chipmunk. "Didn't you notice how silent the whole house was except for you telling Brittany what happened?"

"Do you think Dave heard it, too?" Alvin asked.

"Probably," Brittany said as she kissed Alvin on the cheek. "Don't let this go to your head, but you're a hero."

"And _you_ make me feel like one," Alvin told her as he kissed her lips.

 **End**


End file.
